Cook With Us Week#18- Vegan Coconut Cashew Sundae

Thinking of ice cream always brings a smile to my face. There are so many different flavors from simple vanilla to creative ones with mix ins. The new craze right now is non-dairy ice creams. I really like non-dairy ice creams but I find that many commercial ones are too sugary and lack flavor. For this week's @cookwithus contest ice cream theme, I decided to make my own coconut cashew vegan ice cream sundae. It is super easy to make your own dairy-free ice cream base and the taste is simply rich and creamy from the coconut milk and cashews. A splash of Meyer's rum adds an extra depth of flavor but you can always skip the alcohol.

Non-Dairy Coconut Cashew Ice Cream

• 1 can coconut milk, refrigerated overnight
• 100g cashews soaked overnight in filtered water
• 75-120g coconut sugar
• 30-60g non-dairy milk
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp Meyer's rum (optional)
  Strain the cashews and place all the ingredients into a blender. Start with 75g of coconut sugar and increase the amount of sugar to your desired sweetness. Blend until smooth. Depending on the brand of coconut milk, you might have to adjust the consistency of your ice cream mix by adding a bit more non-dairy milk. It should be thick smoothie consistency. Pour the mixture into an ice cream maker.
  TIP: You want to churn your ice cream until it's firm enough to loosely hold it's shape when scooped. The ice cream will firm up after the second freezing. If you over mix the ice cream in the machine, the texture of the ice cream will not be velvety smooth. Also you want your base to be chilled so it will take less time to churn the ice cream.
  Once the ice cream is churned, place the ice cream into a container and freeze for approximately 1-2 hrs to firm up the ice cream.

For the base of my sundae, I baked a vegan vanilla sponge cake. I like having a cake or cookie base to soak up the melted ice cream. This cake batter is super delicious and can be baked in a loaf pan as a pound cake.

Vegan Vanilla Cake

adapted from Berenive Leconte

• 100g all-purpose flour
• 4g baking powder
• 1/8 tsp baking soda
• 1/8 tsp kosher salt
• 100g non-dairy yoghurt
• 70g granulated sugar
• 10g non-dairy milk
• 75g canola oil
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

Mix the sugar with the oil, vanilla extract, non-dairy milk and yoghurt. Whisk in the dry ingredients. Spread evenly in a 1/4 sheet pan. Bake at 350 degree F oven for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool to room temperature. I needed a crunchy element to my sundae so I made some candied cashews.

Candied Cashews

• 30g cashews
• 20g sugar
• 8g water
• kosher salt
• unsweetened coconut

Place the sugar with the water into a small sauce pan. Once the sugar is melted, add in the cashews and continuous stir until the sugar crystallizes. Continue to cook for a few seconds or just until some sugar starts to caramelize. Add a generous pinch of salt and some unsweetened coconut. Let the cashews cool and break until pieces.

To finish this sundae I made some basil caviar by pureeing some basil leaves with water and sweetening it lightly with sugar. Then I added some agar and agar and dropped the mixture into cold olive oil. Now it's time to put the sundae together. I used a cookie cutter to cut some cake circles. I placed some strawberries and mangos on the bottom of the chilled glasses. I spooned some strawberry puree (which is just some strawberries blended with a touch of powdered sugar) over the fruit and topped with a piece of cake. Three small scoops of coconut cashew ice cream were placed on top of the cake and I added some more fruit, basil caviar and candied cashews. This dessert is sweet, tart and creamy. The basil caviar added a burst of freshness and the bit of salt in the candied cashews enhanced the coconut, rum flavor of the ice cream. This sundae is so delectable you won't even miss the dairy. Dig inn!